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Jane thanked Mr. Ellis with such earnestness that Darcy nearly apologized for having inconvenienced everybody. Charles prevented the attempt by asking whether he wished the surveyor’s letter brought in later.
“No,” Jane said before Darcy could answer. “You shall both leave it alone.”
Her husband bowed to her decision. Darcy did the same, and found the obedience less troublesome than expected.
Caroline came to inquire after him before Mr. Ellis left. She offered to write any necessary letters and asked whether the chair needed another cushion. Darcy thanked her. There was real concern in her face, and he was touched by it, even while he wished that concern did not make her stand so near his arm that he could scarcely move it.
Reynolds settled the question by asking everyone to leave him quiet for a little while.
The room emptied. Darcy drank the broth she brought him and began to feel warm for the first time since he had left the bank.
“May Miss Bennet come in?” Reynolds asked when she took away the cup.
“Yes.”
He answered too readily. The housekeeper gave no sign of having noticed.
Elizabeth entered in a dry gown. Her hair had been smoothed into place, though one curl refused the arrangement. She stopped just inside the door, looking at him with an attention he found far more difficult to bear than Charles’s alarm.
“You look better,” she said.
“I am assured that I ought to remain still in order to preserve the improvement.”
“A sensible instruction.”
“I begin to regret the number of people acquainted with it.”
She smiled. He had wanted that smile since the moment he saw her above the bank.
Reynolds set another chair beside his. Elizabeth sat, her hands folded together, and Darcy noticed a red mark across one palm.
“The rope hurt you.”
“It is very slight.”
“Has someone looked at it?”
“Mrs. Reynolds has. Do not attempt to divert us into nursing me instead.”
He glanced toward the housekeeper. She stood at the table, putting away the unused cloths.
“Does Mrs. Reynolds know what occurred?” he asked.
Elizabeth became still.
“About the rope,” he added.
“Yes.”
“Did she know before today that you could do such a thing?”
“We neither of us knew that I could do that particular thing.” Elizabeth looked at Reynolds, then back at him. “We knew that I could sometimes make a knot move.”
“Sometimes.”
“I should like to have offered you greater certainty this morning. I had none to offer.”
Darcy looked down at the dressing upon his hand. She had attempted it knowing it might fail. He had been afraid upon the ledge, but had given little thought to what she felt above it, holding a rope which she could not possibly support if he fell.
